I always try to be careful with punctuation and spelling. When I don't know how to spell a certain word I think of a synonym. On a side note, anyone know how to actually use this?

;

I always find myself stumped with it, yet I still throw it in sometimes. I figure now is the time to ask.

Stolen from Wikipedia... I feel it explains fairly well:

Semicolons are followed by a lower case letter, unless that letter is the first letter of a proper noun. They have no spaces before them, but one space after (possibly two in a monospace type). Applications of the semicolon in English include

* Between closely related independent clauses not conjoined with a coordinating conjunction
o "I went to the basketball court; I was told it was closed for cleaning."
o "I told Ben he's running for the hills; I wonder if he knew I was joking."
o "Nothing is true; everything is permitted."
o "A man chooses; a slave obeys."
* Between independent clauses linked with a transitional phrase or a conjunctive adverb
o "I like to eat fish; however, I don't like to be eaten by them."
o "I like being odd; yet, I hate being different."
* Between items in a series or listing containing internal punctuation, especially parenthetic commas, where the semicolons function as serial commas:
o "She saw three men: Jamie, who came from New Zealand; John, the milkman's son; and George, a gaunt kind of man."
o "Several fast food restaurants can be found in each of London, England; Paris, France; Dublin, Ireland; and Madrid, Spain."
o "Examples of familiar sequences are: one, two, and three; a, b, and c; and first, second, and third."

I always try to be careful with punctuation and spelling. When I don't know how to spell a certain word I think of a synonym. On a side note, anyone know how to actually use this?

;

I always find myself stumped with it, yet I still throw it in sometimes. I figure now is the time to ask.

That is an excuse to per se start a new sentence without using a period, the semicolon is a awkward one to use at times; but then again proper english can be difficult at times, its all depends on how its spoken.